Raccoons in House & Home Kent, WA.

Raccoon in Your Kent Home

You walk into your kitchen turn on the light and a raccoon is staring at you across the floor. You want to light a fire and in an attempt to escape the smoke a raccoon drops down and exits the fireplace into your living room. You may never believe these circumstances will happen to you but they have happened to homeowners that didn’t believe it either.

Sometimes you can have raccoons in your Kent house and not actually see them. You may be hearing noises in walls, ceilings, chimneys and coming from crawl spaces. Raccoons can vocalize in many ways. Baby raccoons will make mewling, crying or whining sounds. Adults can growl, whimper, hiss or snarl. Often when they are alone they don’t vocalize but you can hear lumbering thumping sounds as they move around.

Sometimes they can enter your living space. Raccoons in King County can enter a house's living space many different ways. The easiest way for a raccoon to enter your house is through a pet door. Raccoons in are very curious and clever when looking for food. Raccoons have a good sense of smell and may be able to smell the dish of food you leave for your pet through the pet door. In fact pet food can be used for bait if trapping a raccoon. They may be unable to find the pet door to exit once they are in your house.

Raccoons can also get into your chimney. The smoke shelf can make an excellent place for a female raccoon to have her babies. The closed damper keeps the raccoon out of your house. When you open the damper and start a fire the nearest exit is the firebox. The result is a raccoon in your house.

Raccoons may also enter your Kent home by any open window or door. Their curiosity will encourage them to explore this new area. They are also often looking for a safe place to make a den and your house may seem safe to them. Most people have screens and do not leave their doors open so this is unlikely. The screens would not keep a raccoon out a determined raccoon but unless they smell food they won’t be that interested.

Raccoons can also enter through the attic. Once they enter the attic and make it their home, the raccoon may fall or chew through the ceiling. Raccoons are big and make heavy sounds while moving around so hopefully you have detected their presence before this happens.

However a raccoon enters your house, the main concern is how to get it out again. First lock up any pets to keep them away from the raccoon. Then open all doors and windows providing an easy exit route. Finally turning on lights and making noise will encourage the raccoon to leave. Never try to confront and physically shoo the raccoon out. Raccoons are wild animals and can be aggressive if threatened. If you have managed to get the raccoon to leave determine how long it was in your home.

If it was just a few minutes, like if it entered through a pet door, then just make sure you have pet door that locks. It is usually fine to leave it unlocked during the day because raccoons are nocturnal. After dark it is best to keep it locked. If your pet door does not lock consider replacing it for a different model and finding a way to secure it until that happens.

If it was in your chimney, attic, walls or crawl space then you should contact a professional wildlife removal expert. The professional will be able to inspect your home for baby raccoons which will most likely have to be removed by hand. The expert will also be able to safely remove and clean any feces. Raccoon feces can carry disease, like raccoon roundworm, and should be handled with the proper safety measures. Many will also be able to repair any damage the raccoon cause getting in or while living in your attic, chimney or walls.